Graphic & Highly Animated (pt.2)

I am using this entry to declare: I am a nerd and I love comic books. During my 2 week winter break vacation, I rediscovered my infatuation with the graphic novella and want to use this entry to suggest some incredible reading. Both of these are satires in regards to our not-so-distant future and the war in Iraq.

The first is entitled “The DMZ” (De-Militarized Zone) and takes place about 20 years in the future. It was written by Brian Wood and illustrated by Ricardo Burchielli. The art and storytelling are nothing short of amazing.

The setting is New York City in the near future. A civil war is taking place between the United States of America and the Free States. The Free States are described in the first issue as being “New Jersey and inland”; in issue #8, it is revealed that “the Free States are an idea, not a geographical entity”;[1] the movement began in Montana and made its way east. The Free Armies and the U.S. military met at Allentown, Pennsylvania where both sides decided that they did not want to fight, after which the Free Armies descended on New York; the exact chain of events from hereon has yet to be revealed. Manhattan is the location of the demilitarized zone between the two warring parties. In an interview, Brian Wood described the back-history as the citizens of Middle America having risen up against the pre-emptive war policies of the US government, causing a Second American Civil War.

This series is absolutely bananas and is told through the eyes of Matty Roth, a naïve young journalist whose U.S. chopper is shot-down by “insurgents,” in the DMZ (Manhattan) and Zee Hernandez, a young Med student who was working in Manhattan when the war began. She moves around the city and runs her own clinic, treating victims of bombing and violence during the new Civil War.

Matty Roth becomes the only journalist in the entire city and gets a new look at a place that has been described through the media’s eyes as “empty.” What he finds is a war-torn city booming with life and a new culture that is neither “American,” nor “Free State,” but something unique and new altogether. Though fictional, it touches on issues regarding the War in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, Jihad/Spiritual battle, racism/classism/sexism, and thinking critically about the Amerikan media and the role they play in capitalism/politics.

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The second of my recommendations is the graphic novel “SHOOTING WAR,” by writer Anthony Lappe and artist Dan Goldman.

Shooting War is a webcomic and graphic novel by writer Anthony Lappé and artist Dan Goldman. It is set in the year 2011 and tells the story of a video-blogger named Jimmy Burns. Burns films a terrorist suicide bombing attack on a Starbucks in Brooklyn and becomes an overnight media star. Shortly after, Burns is sent to cover the still-raging war in Iraq for the fictional Global News Network.

This ish is crazy because “President McCain” has now taken over the Iraq “Quagmire,” and is sending more and more troops into Iraq. In 2011, the Arab/Muslim world is uniting rapidly against the United States and the war is becoming increasingly more violent everyday. While this may sound very similar to “The DMZ,” it actually has a very different feel because of the artwork and voice the story is told in.

It is a frightening look at the what the future MIGHT hold should we continue on the path our current administration has laid out for us. From Amerikan troops controlling “gun-robots” from the safety of a military base and killing Iraqi civilians as if they are characters in a video game to a BLOGGER changing the course of Amerikan history, “Shooting War,” began as a webcomic and is now a fine piece of art/literature. Check it out ASAP or if you are my homie, holla and I’ll loan it to you.

Kill your TV,
Senbei.